Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	church_n	civil_a	magistrate_n	1,328	5	8.0220	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79524	Catholike history, collected and gathered out of Scripture, councels, ancient Fathers, and modern authentick writers, both ecclesiastical and civil; for the satisfaction of such as doubt, and the confirmation of such as believe, the Reformed Church of England. Occasioned by a book written by Dr. Thomas Vane, intituled, The lost sheep returned home. / By Edward Chisenhale, Esquire.	Chisenhale, Edward, d. 1654.	1653 (1653)	Wing C3899; Thomason E1273_1; ESTC R210487	201,728	571

the dead and for this cause many of her former daughter-Churches are become strangers to their mothers womb and have withdrawn that tribute of honor and reverence which they formerly ascribed to her and give it to that Nurse and foster-mother who with indulgent care le ts her suck from her brests the sincere milke of the word humbly complaining unto the General Council Sal. Song 5.17 Oh thou fairest among women whither is thy well-beloved gone whither is thy well-beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee Return return O Shulamite return that we may behold thee Solomons Song 6.12 The unkindness of this our natural mother By whom Councels are to be called charmed my senses into stupefaction and made me dwell too long upon her admiring her unnaturalness of which I could wish I had no ground or proof But lest my bold assertions against this reverend Lady might with some finde no credit and with others be accounted the evaporations of a revengeful spirit I will lay open her digression and acquit my self from all aspersions of slander The stile of a General Council runs thus Jussu Imperatoris fraternitatis nostrae coetus est adventus as may appear by several records of ancient Councils and by what follows The Emperor in General Councils of the West and every prince respectively within his province and dominions is supream head of Ecclesiastical affaires as I have already proved in the fourth Chapter and has right to collate to Bishops to call Councils and to reform the Church c. I do not mean hereby that he should determine judicio definitivo to resolve what is sound divinity so to impose that upon men for faith which he defines to be so But the Civil Magistrate may Infra 142.14 chap. judicio exequutivo or by right of jurisdiction and ought to command the profession of faith determined and decreed by the Church he is supream and has the sword that he should not bear it in vaine and as the head in the body is reliquorum membrorum imperator so he is the guide and director of other members to enjoyn Church-officers and others the discharge of their several duties and to punish their negligence and contempt and to deny this to him is to make him no longer a nursing father but pinching suppressor at least a cold-hearted favorer of the Church As then the Civil Magistrate is supreme head and governor Infra 14. chap. 149. 10. chap 76. of which more at large in the 14 Chapter to him of right it belongs to call a Council for the correcting of sin and schisme otherwise to what purpose should there be any Council at all sith that nothing there decreed can be put into practice without the approbation and allowance of the Civil Magistrate who onely has the corrective power to enjoyn obedience to what shall be there decreed Saint Austin sayes that it is the duty of Kings to command not only in matters pertaining the state of men but the Religion of God also and Saint Ambrose though he was against the Emperor to allow him power as Judge of Doctrine by determining points of faith yet he did not intrench upon his other Civil power he being to have obedience performed him as well of the Temporal as Ecclesiastical persons and to punish the negligence of the Clergy if they shall make rules of faith and not themselves observe them the King or Civil Magistrate being hereunto ordained to punish the offences and miscarriages of his people and is therefore said supreme omnis sub ipso ipse sub●nullo nisi tantū sub Deo nor is he bound to give an account for his so doing saving to God alone by whom he decrees justice and this Saint Ambrose allowes in his Comment upon the 50 Psalme Against the O Lord onely have I offended said David Blind Homer in his Iliads could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will not the holy father of Rome being full of visibility vouchsafe to reflect thus much upon Kings and Princes if he will not it behooves the Temporal powers which have the sword to look to their charge and by the examples of David Hezekiah and Josiah to punish wicked Priests and to let them know that their power is from God and let them withall take this caution to themselves as they have that power from God God will require an account from them how they use that power either through negligence or wilfully turning the power of justice into unequal tyranny But this by the way I return to the subject point in hand That the General Councils of the Western Empire were of Right to be called by the Emperor The Emperor or Civil Magistrate may of right summon a Councel Infra 10 chap. fol. 76. ante 36.4 chap. it doth plainly appear by these ensuing presidents The first Council of Nice was called by the Emperor Constantine as Marsilius dict 2. cap. 21. and Theodosius the Elder called the first Council of Constantinople The Ephesine Council was called by Theodosius the yonger at the earnest request of Celestine Bishop of Rome and Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria and the Council of Chalcedon ex decreto piissimorum imperatorum Valentiniain Marciani congregatus as the preface to that Council plainly witnesses and Marsilius in his 2. dict 20. cap. who wrote above 320 yeers since sayes that though the Popes then did call some General Councils it was not of right that the Pope with his Cardinals should do so It is true that for order sake and for honor to the City of Rome her Bishop is president in the Council he being by the Council of Constantinople made prime Bishop in honor to the City of Rome and in after times by Phocas was made universall yet for all that he never challenged any supremacy of power as to this point of calling Councils till long after onely hereby enjoyed a primacy of order which would it satisfie him I believe few would gainsay it But for the power and priviledge of summoning a General Council it still notwithstanding this remained unquestioned in the Civil Magistrate And whereas it is alleadged by a president of Saint Ambrose that the Bishop had power to convene a Council and not the Prince I shall cleer that objection and plainly prove that it makes nothing for the Bishops of Romes purpose Saint Ambrose denyed to dispute with Auxentius the Arrian before Valentinian in the Consistory Saint Ambrose denial to dispute before Valentinian proves not the power to call Councels to be in ●he Pope and shews his reasons for it he doth not positively deny but layes down his reasons why he cannot venissem imperator c. Epist lib. 5. he had come but for these reasons 1. Because the Emperor was a young man not then in the faith of the Trinity being brought up an Arrian and having made a law for the Arrian doctrine Tolle legem si vis esse certamen saith

Churches and for that it is more probable that they shall decree according to the rule of Scripture which every private man in charity ought to think and therefore to incline himself to follow the rules she shall prepose I will shew how far a Council is Binding It doth not destroy the Church of Christ universally to say that a General Council may err For concerning the true faith of Christ it is already made known by the preaching of the Apostles to most parts of the known world which faith God will have in some part of the world till the dissolution thereof for as I have already said at one instant of time Christs Church shall not be universally invisible The Councils of Laterane By the erring of the General Councils the universal Church doth not err Trent Milan and Nice may err from the faith they had formerly received But this doth not prove a universal falling away and any other Councel that of latter times hath been cannot assure it self upon the promise of Christ's Spirit that it is infallible because not collective of all parts where the faith of Christ is preached which if it were so collective it argued infidelity of any private Church to distrust their rules For in such a condion as they are representive of the universal Church they have the same Spirit with them the Apostles had and though but men yet by vertue of that Spirit became infallible in their judicial decrees of Articles and Rules of faith But such a Council was never gathered since the Council of Jerusalem therefore the later Councils being but representive of particular Churches as those particular Churches may err so these Councils may err For as much as since the Apostles Councils Who shall tax the Councils of errors there was never any Council which was collective of the universal Church and so had the assurance of Christs Spirit It is requisite that every provincial who by suffragan vote is not represented there shall examine within his own jurisdiction how the rules of such Council agree to the Scriptures which he is already assured are of the Holy Ghost and in themselves prime verities and to walk according as Gods Spirit shal give him to understand those Scriptures he being within his own charge and territory made a dispensor of those sacred oracles and as for any private man he is to be guided by the rules of the particular Church of which he is a member without openly taxing his mother-Church of error I do not infer hereby that because there has not lately been How provincials are bound by a collective Councel or because that it is very difficult if not impossible to have a general Council collective of all Christian Churches that therefore every provincial Council has the same efficacy of decreeing that a General Council collective of many provinces hath For according to the Council of Antioch 14. Can. and Carthage 19. Can. I approve of provincials appealing one to another to decide controversies and to bring the the neighbor provinces into unity of faith that they may support one another by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of peace Ephes 4. and that it is convenient that such provincicals as are represented in such a Council should acquiesce in the result of that council so convened but not to conclude that such councils are infallible for that because they proceed upon humane judgements not being assured of the Holy Ghost by Christs promise to his Church in respect they are not a perfect representation of that Catholique Church and as the Scripture is to be the guide to any Council so more especially shall it be a rule to others by which the absent provincials are to examine the rules of that Council As for the several provincials and Sees then by suffragan vote represented I hold it fit for them to acquiesce in the result of such a collective Council wherefore for the further illustration of this point I hold it necessary to add a Chapter of the constitutions of Councils thereby the better to lay open this point of Romes errors in her ascribing to her See infallibility CHAP. X. Wherefore general Councils are called of their power that they are above the Pope and how they are of later times by the abuses of the Pope made of none effect I Look upon a general Council with that respect and reverence The conveniency of Ceneral Councils that I account her the Bulwark of Christian Churches the Tower of defence against the enemies thereof the hill whereon Christs City is built in whose heavenly top ariseth a fountain of unity which sends forth such irresistible streams that with the advantage of that Rise from whence they descend they beat back any muddy inundations of error which Satan the prince of the aire sends down to trouble her channels and notwithstanding any rubbish which by his industry shall be cast in their ways to dam and straiten their course they with the supplies they receive from this inexhaustible source beat down those malicious obstructions and in spight of all opposition of evil angels smoothly glide away unto the pacifick sea I look upon her as a bundle of arrows not easily broke from whose quiver the particular Churches are compleatly armed to resist the fiery darts of Satan In brief I honor respect love and in all humility reverence her and when I consider her in her right constitution I hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensible obedience to conform and submit to whatsoever rules of faith she shall constitute and appoint I account her the mother of the particular Churches there represented betwixt whom there is an harmonious intercourse of reciprocal love and duty she to acquit her obligations provides for her daughters their portions food raiment Heavenly Manna Christ's seamless coate and her daughters to discharge their duty return her a tribute of honor and obedience Thus and no otherwise do I look upon her These are her just and proper attributes and who without regret can consider that this beauteous Lady the mistris and mother of us all should through adulteries and her late Apostacies have dethroned her self from this her so glorious and Celestial estate she to forsake her husband Christ and to go a whoring after her own inventions by which she has contracted such black spots of lepresie upon her ruddy cheeks that she is no more white and ruddy the fairest of ten thousand she is no more the beloved of Christ and the fairest amongst women she with the Jews has chosen Barabbas and cast off her husband Christ her inner roomes are the chambers of death into which Solomon enters and commits fornication with her She has taken the divels counsel and thrown her self from off the Pinacles of the Temple and forsaking the house of the Lord she has erected a house which is the way unto the Grave her house tendeth to death and her paths unto

Saint Ambrose 2. The conference was to be in a publike theatre amongst a company of Jews and Hereticks where he could expect no other issue but what the Apostles found when they spake with divers tongues to wit mocks and scoffs and there are some places not fit either for actions or arguments our Saviour could do no miracles in his own Country 3. Because there was none there to be judge but the young Emperor and other Arrian Hereticks which in matters of faith is not allowed and therefore Saint Ambrose might not come for the spirit of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets by the Apostles rule 1 Cor. 14.32 Saint Ambrose denyed likewise to tolerate a Church for the Arrians in Millaine Saint Ambrose a-against resistance that being to set up the kingdom of Antichrist yet in his oration against the said Auxentius Epist 5. he declares against resistance of the Prince and though not to be obeyed actively in unjust commands yet not to be resisted in any case wherefore if the Emperor resolved to have a Church in Millaine he would not resist For as he could not consent so he would not resist for saith he preces lacrymae sunt armae Ecclesiae Inf●a 147.14 chap. Now what may be gathered from hence to prove that the Emperor his appointing the publike dispute was unlawful and in that that the Emperor had not right to call a Council Saint Ambrose layes down his reasons wherefore he could not come and in that desires excuse he is not peremptory to deny for if the law made against Christians might be abrogated he would have come wherefore this is a poor shift to prove that the Emperor has no power to call a Council and indeed it is an absolute abuse to that deceased holy Father Saint Ambrose who never meant any ●uch thing he plainly teaching the contrary as may appear by his own writing For when the Synod of Aqnileia convened by the Emperors command broke up he wrote with the rest of his fellow-brethren there assembled to the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian Humbly desiring them to make good what they had in that assembly concluded Ne obtemporantes vestrae tranquillitatis statutes frustra convenisse videamus c. lest that this meeting made in obedience to their clemencies command should be frustrate and to no purpose So that it is plaine he was not against the Emperor his calling of a Council onely could not approve of the manner of the publike assembly appointed for dispute against Auxentius wherefore for shame let none urge that to the injury of that holy father and to the perverting of truth whilst they strive to prove thereby that the right of convening Councils belonged not to Civil Magistrates for it was practised by the first Councils a hundred yeers before Saint Ambrose time and by Saint Ambrose professed and till of late maintained as may appear by latter writers as Gerson in sermone coram Concil Constant prim part A General Council may be called saith he without express mandate of the Popes The first Council the Council of Jerusalem was not called by Saint Peter or any one of the Apostles but the text saith that the Apostles and Elders came together after Paul and Barnabas had warned them of the dissention Act. 15. and when Judas and Silas were from thence sent to Antioch and letters writ by them those letters were not directed from Peter But thus The Apostles and Elders unto the brethren which are at Antioch send greeting So that the Pope cannot claime this prerogative jure Apostolico as deriving it from Peter and if he have it by the gracious grant of the Emperor or any humane law I for my part do not grudge it nor doth it much matter who be the summoner of it I shal allow to the Bishop of Rome sith he is primus inter Episcopos to have his priviledge if the Emperor have given it to him for as he was made primus inter Episcopos in honor of the City of Rome so let those Bishops appear at his summons to convene about matters of the Church which I should think to be fit and convenient so to do might the Council be free Covenient the Pope call a Councel Not that 〈◊〉 are thereunto bound in relation 〈◊〉 charge or duty lies upon them for the Pope claiming this priviledge from the Emperor it cannot positively oblige provincials not within his jurisdiction but for order sake and for that some one must call it and the Bishop of Rome may as well be the trumpeter to summon them as no. Therefore I should think it convenient for them to appear there might it be free and for that by order of Council primacy of order is given to the Bishop of Rome I hold it fit that he should be president of such a Council But by no means may it be allowed that by reason of this prerogative granted by the Emperor other Princes not subject to him shall not have priviledge to summon a provincial Council within their respective provinces and jurisdictious and that notwithstanding the Pope may for order sake summon them to a general meeting yet if he be negligent and will not call a Council the several provincials may agree to convene without him for that is granted to them by ancient Councils and what they shall so decree may by the consent of the several Princes under whom they are be imposed as rules of faith upon the people to which their obedience shall positively be required for it is not much material by whom a collective Council be summoned I will admit it lawfully assembled and now proceed to examine its power Gerson a famous Papist and Chancellor of the University of Paris in sermone pro viagio-regis Romanorum direct 1. prim parte A General Council representing the Church is a rule directed by the Holy Ghost and given of Christ that every one of what estate soever even Papal must hear and obey the same or else he must be reputed and taken as an Ethnick or publican And againe in another place prim part de examinat doctr consid 2. the Pope doubtless is subject to Councils and a Council hath power to depose him as was done upon John the 12. Joh. the 23. And the same Author in another place affirmeth in prim part pro viagio regis Romanorum consider 2. A General Council may not only induct one to be Pope but may compell any Pope to depart from the Popedome by way of authority And though this may seem but one Doctors opinion yet it has formerly been the general doctrine of the Church as may appear by the ancient Councels especially that of Constant which expresly in that point declared the General Councel above the Pope and should it be otherwise the General Councel is useless and vaine if the Pope with his Cardinals should be esteemed and judged above them I will therefore examine this point As

after Christ and hereupon he has quite spoyled the Doctor for by this means he has hudwinkt his marks of Romes truth to wit Antiquity Universality Unity in Doctrine c. But my Cardinal thinks to salve up this errour by another trick and that almost as gross as this onely this reflects upon the Divinity that upon the Apostles personally He takes upon him to make known to us what was the secret opinion of Peter and Paul c. which have suffered for Religion to wit that they suffered because they wanted power to resist not that it was the will of God they should do so and so he makes the blessed Apostles and holy Martyrs dissemblers speaking one thing and thinking another For saith he as soon as a Prince begins to appear heretical ipso facto though Excommunication be not denounced he shall be put from his Kingdom for as Fame so Heresie gathers strength by going forward Which Axiome of his is verified in this for that since he wrote Bellarmine plows with his heifer and perswades the same Doctrine So that hereby S. Paul is accused of dissimulation That he should bid the Romanes obey for fashion-sake to please the times and so he makes the blessed Apostle an object of scorn not pity That he should be a time-server and yet play his cards so badly that he could not humour Domitius Nero better Is it likely that the Apostles would have commanded others to pray for them if they would have taken their blood if they could Unless these Cardinals would have them like the Presbyters of England who prayed for King Charles whilst their Armies kept him in prison or like Charles the fifth who commanded prayers to be made for Clement the seventh his deliverance and suffered his own Bands to confine him Is it likely S. Peter preaching the Word would bid them submit which Word he said should endure for ever 1 Pet. 1.25 even that Word which was preached amongst them if he knew that it was lawful for them to resist if they had power This were to ascribe want of faith to Peter that God would never deliver his Church out of the hands of Persecutors but suffer her to be always under Tyrants or else that Peter taught one thing and thought another And why should both Peter and Paul press this duty of obedience and submission and that not for wrath but for conscience sake were it lawful to resist This affertion of the Cardinal is therefore gross and impious It is plain by the Scripture that this duty of submission to the Civil power was a precept enjoyned by God not proceeding from any fear the production of a base nature And whenas Paul and Peter did practise and recommend this duty to others it was to give a testimony of their faith in Jesus who as he had laid down his life for them who wanted no power to have withstood the Jews he might have commanded legions of Angels to have come and rescued him out of their hands in obedience to the will of the Father so they as obedient sons of Christ Jesus whom he had in his blood adopted would according to his precepts and example lay down their lives for the testimony of the Gospel Solomon forbade that any should curse the King secretly in his conscience which sure he never would have done if it had been lawful having power to cast him off Saint Jude calls them filthy dreamers that speak evil of Government and despise such as be in Authority I wonder what he would think of those two Cardinals were he alive who would have the Pope drive Kings out of their Kingdomes if he can There are some Roman Catholicks who being with Agrippa half perswaded to be Christians and being touched in Conscience decline these gross absudities of Allen and Bellarmine as being pernitious and tending to the injury of Christ and his A postles and the holy Scripture and in that injurious to the holy Ghost Scripture being nothing else but the dictates of that holy Spirit But yet for all that they are so bewitched to the Roman Faith out of a blind conceit of its Antiquity and therefore of its truth that they will not leave her but strive to justifie her in all things and to excuse this point for that it is a point controverted by some of their owne Church and not yet decreed by any publique Councel nor ever must it be decided may the Pope chuse Besides should it be referred to a Councel there is no credit to be given to the result of that Councel for that none must sit there but such as first must swear to maintain the Pope in the very point to be controverted and so it would be coram non judice or if it should be decreed against his holiness yet by the prerogatives Spiritual of his late Laterane and Trent-assemblies he might notwithstanding repeal that Decree or chuse to obey it for that he is by them declared to be above Councels And till this be rectified this error can receive no reformation from a Councel nor can any satisfaction from thence redound to clear the scruples of any mans conscience in this particular In the mean time Popery is like the Religion of the Pharisees Councels declare one thing de fide the Pope is found contrary de facto so that as our Saviour said of the Pharisees Matth. 23.3 so say I of these Roman Catholicks All that such a Councel should so decree observe and keep but after their works do not for they say and do not The last shift that the Jesuites have to maintain this point of Papal prerogative is The Pope 〈◊〉 a temporal Prince that the Pope is more then the Apostles having acquired a Principality on earth and so by Jus belli he may pull downe one Prince and set up another for say they the Apostles had no charge but onely to preach the Gospel but his holiness the Pope has other fish to fry then what Saint Peter left him he is a temporal Prince he weares a triple Crown he disposes of Kingdomes Crowns Emperours Grants Dispensations sends Indulgences receives Appeals answers Ambassadours takes Homages releases Oaths dissolves Leagues interposes in the Election of Princes has an Emperour to hold his stirrop bring up his first dish a King to serve him at Dinner and many a glorious matter more which Saint Peter never dreamed on so that for him to depose Kings he being more then ever Peter was is no such a strange thing To which I answer 'T is strange so great a Potentate should be thrust up into so little a Corner of the Earth as the Territories of the Papacie are and yet that his Jurisdiction over other Princes should be of such vast latitude I perswade my self that as our Saviour said a Prophet is nothing worth in his owne Country so the Popes power is made more glorious afar off then it is in Italy taken to be whence it is that

have no need of a Physitian but the sick Matth. 9. Christ having sent his Apostles to preach him that is light unto them that sit in darkness and to bring them unto this marvellous light So that it is the principal part of the Priests duty to propagate the Gospel to them that yet remain in darkness and not to keep them in ignorance and seclude them from this light by clouding their Intellects with a Vail of dark language a Candle ought not to be set under a Bushel let your light shine before men that others seeing may glorifie God which is in heaven give then to the several people their Lyturgie in their own tongue that they may understandingly and with a contrite heart offer up their sacrifice of Prayer and praise which is a reasonable sacrifice and acceptable service to God for if a people ignorant of the Latine must have their Lyturgie in that tongue these inconveniences and absurdities do from thence arise 1. If the praise and service of God said by the Minister who knowes what he saith be sufficiently acceptable unto God it is to no purpose for the people which understand it not to come to hear it which to assert were Diabolical in respect that God has commanded all to draw neer unto him whether Jew or Gentile as many as believe in Jesus shall be saved Who being consecrate is made the Author of salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5. There is no difference between the Jew and the Grecian he that is Lord of all is rich unto all that call upon him Rom. 10. And Saint Peter tels us that In every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness shall be saved Acts 10. Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will ease you Matth. 12. Call upon me in trouble and I will hear you Psal 17.6 He is nigh unto all them that call upon him faithfully Psal 145.18 And more especially is he to be found in his house the house of Prayer of them that seek him Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the mid'st of them Matth. 18. Now as all are enjoyned to this duty so is it requisite that they perform it with due reverence knowing to whom they speak and not with rash lips nor ignorantly for the word must be in thy heart as well as thy mouth Rom. 10.8 The men of Athens worshipped an unknown God but Saint Paul rebuketh them Acts 11. Be ye not strangers from the life of God through ignorance was S. Paul's rule to the Ephesians but understand what the will of the Lord is So that as all people are commanded to serve and praise God so must they do it in heart and mind and with understanding wherefore it is not sufficient onely for the Priest to understand when he prayes or praiseth God but the people likewise must concur in the understanding of the present service If it be sufficient for the Priest alone to know and understand the prayer and praises offered to God then need not the people come or if the coming of the people be necessary then must they understand what the Priest prays or saith For if a man pray Pater noster c. as the Doctor sayes fol. 339. and may not measure his thoughts Mathematically with his words it is no more than if a Parat were taught it his understanding is without fruit in a Rational soul the heart is to declare to the tongue otherwise whilst he speaks he either babbles like a Bruit without understanding A good man out of the good treasure bringeth forth good an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Luk. 6. or otherwise if there be no concurrence between the heart and the mouth he speaks with feigned lips not uttering what he thinks It is not sufficient for a man to suppose it is the Lords prayer because he has heard so and that he knows the Lords prayer in English or that his thoughts go along with the Latine For suppose he should be saying Da nobis panem quotidianum and he was supposing he was praying for the Kingdome to come how shall God answer such a prayer 2. The Doctor whilst he goes about to set up the Church of Rome above her fellowes and to magnifie her Lyturgie he doth indeed destroy Christ's Church by excluding the people who are Members of the Church and make a Church as I have shewed in the third Chapter For it is not the practice at Rome onely in Quires and in Collegiate Chappels which are onely for societies of such as understand that tongue this were t●l●rable but it extends to all Congregations excluding the people which is abominable For the Church of Rome though she be Head she cannot say unto the Members I have no need of you We all make but one body in Christ whether we be Jewes or Gentiles bond or free We are all by one Spirit baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12. So then if the society of the Saints do make the Church it is fit that this society serve and praise the Lord in heart and spirit for as God is a spirit so he will be worsh pped in spirit and in truth Wherefore to say that it is sufficient for the Priest to understand because he alone offers the sacrifice of praise that is to destroy the Church by excluding the Saints from this duty and therefore that they may do this with heart and spirit it is requisite for the people to have this Lyturgie in a tongue they understand that they may praise the Lord with all their heart according as the Lyturgie enjoyns then bidding them lift up their heart unto the Lord. And I much wonder that these words escaped razing when Vitellianus about the year 666. the number of the Beast did command that the service in all Churches should be in Latine but Nihil simul est inventum perfectum and now that it remains still having escaped the Index expurgatorius it stands to the condemnation of the Church of Rome to shew from what she is fallen from truth to error from Apostolick practice to let all things be done to edifying 1 Thes 5.11 to follow her own inventions hood-winking the people in ignorance that she may the better tyrannize over them For whereas the Doctor would perswade us fol. 329. that Peter and Paul used a Lyturgie in one of the learned languages which could not be known to all he must prove that before it be to be believed It may be they used amongst themselves one constant language in their service which might not be understood by others by chance by-standers but when they preached or prayed with others in a publick Assembly we do not finde but that the people understood them in their own language 3. Our prayer